Sheet-feeding machine



C. E. CHRISTOPHEL.

SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0CT. 9| 1918.

1,385,666, I Patented July 26, 1921.

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Q m n 3 (low 6 W amvewfoz 0. E CHRISTOPHEL. SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9. 1918.

9 SHEETS$HEET 2- 1,385,666. Patented July 26, 1921.

C. E. CHRISTOPHEL.

SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9. 1918.

Patented J111y26, 1921 9 SHED: SHEET) M Q I avwewfoz 5.

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C. E. CHRISTOPHEL.

SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9, I918.

Patented July 26, 1921 9 SHEETS-SHEET 4-.

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6 a m, flflo c. E. CHRISTOPHELQ.

SHEET FEEDING MACH|NE. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9, l9l8.

1,385,666. Patented July 26, 1921.

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SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9. I918.

1,685,666. Patented July 26, 1921.

9 SHEETS-SHEET 6- C. E. CHRISTOPHEL.

SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0019. 1918.

Patented July 26, 1921.

9 SHEETSSHEET 7.

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SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9, 1918.

1,385,666. v PatentedJuly26,l92l.

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C. E. CHRISTOPHEL.

SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT: 911918.

Patented July 26, 1921.

9 SHEETS-SHEET 9.

wvewroz UNITED STATES PATENT o ncE.

CARL E. CBIRISTOPHEL, 0F PEARI RIVER; NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO DEXTER FOLDER COMPANY, OF PEARL RIVER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SHEET-FEEDING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 26:, 1921.

Application filed October 9, 1918. Serial No. 257,517.

To all whom it may concern:

a subject of the German Emperor, residingat Pearl River, county of Rockland, State of New York,-have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet-Feeding Machines, of which the following is a specification. v

This invention relates to that class of sheet-feeding machines in which the sheets are separated from the pile before being operated upon by the forwarding mechanism. Ordinarily the operations of these mechanisms are coordinated by suitably timed cams and while in one sense this may hold true in the'machine to be hereinafter described, thepresent invention has for one of its objects to relate these mechanisms to 'each other in a more direct manner. One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved unitary control of the sheet separating and sheet forwarding operations. Another object is to provide an improved pile raising governor. Another object is to provide. an improved construction and arrangement of parts in the sheet-forwarding mechanism. Another object is to provideimproved power transmission for the sheetseparating mechanisms. Other and further objects will appear in the specification and be pointed out in the'appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which disclose my invention 1n a preferred embodiment.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of a sheet-feeding machine constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevatlon of the same;

Fig. 3 is a gear diagram of the operatlng connections for imparting a step by step elevation of a pile of sheets;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the main clutch mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic top plan view of the same; I

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the power transmission connections for driving; the sheet se arators;

Fig. l is a diagrammatic left hand rear elevation of'the separator anddriving connections therefor, parts being broken away;

Fig. 8 is a similar diagrammatic righthand rear elevation, parts being broken y;

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the driving and remforcing connections between the central longitudinal power shaft and the transverse separator drive shaft, taken on the line PL-lX, Fig. 7 parts being shown in sec- Fig. 10 is a fragmentary detail on an enlar ed scale; v

ig. 11 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of the sheet-forwarding mechanism, parts being broken away and parts shown in section and contiguous parts of the machine being omitted to make the operation more clearly intelligible;

Fig; 12 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of the suction control valve mechanism, parts being broken away and parts shown in .section;

Fig. 13 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of the pile elevating ratchet feed mechanlsm;

Fig. 14 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of the blast pipe vent valve and operating connections, parts beingbroken away.

In the embodiment of my invention shown on the drawings, base sockets 1 may be secured to the floor by any suitable means and serve to mount the uprights or standards 2 which are rigidly connected at the top by the top rails 3. Rigid with the top rails 3 are suitable brackets or bearings for journaling the shafts 4 which extend on horizontal axes along opposite sides of the machine. Keyed to the shafts are sprockets 5 over which run the double-ended chains 6. Chains 6 are arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the machine and each end of each chain is provided with a .olevis 7 which-is detachably secured to a collar 8 which turns freely on the rods 9. Each of the rods 9 is provided with a disk lUprovided with sockets 11 which are adapted to receive a chain or lever for oscillating the rod 9, said rod being provided withgrooved portions 12 which mesh into similarly grooved undersurfaces of the I-beams 13.

The outer ends of the rods 9 are provided.

17 which rest in sockets infoot supports 18, said foot supports being pivotally connected at- 19 to the base sockets 1. It will be seen from this description that the chains 6 may be moved in either direction, so that when a paper table has been elevated almost to the upper limit of its movement, another paper table may be attached to the lower end in readiness to receive another pile of sheets which in its turn will be fed upwardly by reversing the direction of rotation of the shafts 4. Adjacent to the sprockets 5 on the forward ends of theshafts 4 are keyed worm wheels 20 which mesh with worms on a transverse shaft 21 provided with a suitable socket 22 for the reception of a crank (not shown). Keyed to this shaft is a gear 23. Cotiperating with the gear 23 as shown best in Fig. 3 is a planetary system, comprising a rotary plate or disk 24 freely journaled on shaft 21 and provided with radial sockets 25, 26, 27 and 28 which are adapt ed toreceive the end of a threaded bolt 29 which is mounted in a threaded socket 30 secured to the frame of the machine. The

- bolt 29 is provided with a hand grip 31.

Rotatably mounted upon the plate or disk 24 is a gear 32 which is journaled on a stud 198 and meshes with the gear 23 and anidler 33 which, according to the positions shown Fig. 3, is interposed between the gear 32 and a gear 34 which is keyed to a stub shaft 35. Also keyed to the shaft 35 is a ratchet 36 which is adapted to be moved by a pawl 37 (see Fig. 13) which is pivotally mounted on a pin 38 carried by an oscillatory block 39. A spring rod 40 reciprocates in a post 41 and carries a compression pring 42 which is interposed between the post 41 and a collar 43which is secured to the rod 40. A pin 44 serves to pivotally connect the block 39 toone end of a slotted link 45, and is provided at its other end with a slot 46 within which reciprocates a crank pin 47 carried by the rotary disk 48. As shown in Fig. 5, the disk 48, which rotates about the, axis of a cam shaft 49 is rigidly connected to a gear 50 which meshes with a gear 51 keyed to the stub shaft 52. Also keyed to the stub shaft 52 is a bevel gear 53 which meshes with a bevel pinion 54 keyed to a power driven shaft 55.

The cam shaft 52 is the main drive shaft of the feeding machine, the gear 50 and disk 48 being freely'journaled thereon. Keyed to the cam shaft 49 is a disk 56 which is provided with a clutch pin 57, said clutch pin being normally engaged by a clutch lever 58 which is pivoted at 59 on a pin-car ried by the gear 50. Said clutch lever is provided with a spring arm 60 to which is pivotally connected a spring rod 61 upon which is mounted a spring 62 tending to hold the clutch lever 58 and pin 57 in ention to intercept the cam roller 70 which is journaled on a pin 71 carried by the clutch lever 58. Whenever the cam roller 70 is forced to travel over the segmental cam 63, the clutch lever 58 is left out of engagement with the clutch pin 57 and the cam shaft 49 is disconnected from the driving train. As shownin Fig. 13, the shaft 35 has keyed thereto a dog 72'with which co6perates a lever arm 73 which swings freely about a pin 74-which projects laterally from the bracket 65. As long as the arm 73 looks the dog 72, the oscillatory block 39 is prevented from being forced in a clockwise direction to bring the pawl 37 into engagement with the next tooth toward the right, which would cause the ratchet 36 to be moved one tooth during the next displacement of the slotted link 45. The pile holding table is thus held at a fixed elevation until such time as the arm 73 is moved out of engagement with the dog 72 to permit the movement just referred to. For this purpose, an arm 75 which is keyed to a rock shaft 76 is adapted to be moved into engagement with the lever arm 73 at a moment when the cranking pin 47 has reached the left end of its travel and thus serves to remove the tension of spring 42 from thelever arm 73. The rocking movement of the shaft 76 corresponds with the vertical movement of the forwarding mechanism to which reference is hereinafter made, and according to the embodiment shown on the drawings, the lever arm 75 operates the lever arm 73 when the sheet feeding suckers are obliged to drop more than a predetermined distance in securing their hold upon the top sheet of the pile. Thereupon the lever 73 is displaced and the succeeding reciprocatory movements of the link 45 cause the pile to be raised step by step until such time as the following movements of the sheet forwarders is limited sufliciently to prevent the arm 75 from engaging the leyer 73. The extent of the angular movement lmparted to the lever arm 75, depends upon the angular displacements of the rock shaft which are limited in one direction by the height of the pile of sheets. For this purpose, the height of the pile is governed in the manner to be hereinafter described.

Referring now to Fig. 6, the cam shaft keyed to a transverse drive shaft 85 which may be considered the drive shaft for the separators presently to be referred to. The shaft 85 adjacent to the shaft 79 is j ournaled in the yoke or hanger 86 and serves to support said yoke or hanger, which in turn sup.

ports the rear end of the longitudinal drive shaft 79. Surmounting the yoke 86 is a U-shaped bracket arm 87 which passes over and around a transverse shaft 88 which extends across the machine and is provided-at opposite ends-with gear teeth 89 cut therein to mesh with a rack 90 which extends forwardly along the side frame ofmthe machine.

The shaft 88 is provided with a hand wheel 91 which adapts it to traverse the racks 90- for advancing or retiring the separators.

The constructional details of these separators are not claimed in the present application since they constitute the subject matter of my copending application Serial No. 256766 filed'October 3rd, 1918. Said separators have only been shown diagrammatically on the drawings. In order to locate the separators transversely, each of the separators 92 is suspended from a slide '93 which may be adjusted at will along a transverse rack bar 94, said separators being provided with geared spindles 95 for this purpose. The shaft 85 is supported from the transverse rack 94 by means of brackets 96 which are arranged at suitable intervals for this purpose. As shown in Fig. 10, the separator drive shaft 85 is provided with a splineway 97 which serves to drive the bevel gear 98, while permitting it to be moved along the shaft 85. The gear 98 is provided with an elongated hub portion having a flange 99 for retaining it in a separable bearing 100 which bearing is journaled on a pin 101 in bracket 102. which is secured to the separator frame. The bevel gear 98 meshes with a bevel gear 103 which is keyed to the separator shaft 104. The universal joint 105, arranged at the forward end of thelongitudinal drive shaft 79, permits said drive shaft to -be raised and lowered at the rear end of the machine and the peculiar connections between the bevel gears 98 and 103 permit a relative rise or fall of either separator with respect to the other. At the same time, the power connections at the center between the drive shaft 85 and the shaft 79 maintain the driving connections while permitting whatever adjusting movements into the separator that are desired. 9

rod 110.

"Referring now to Fig. 11, a hollow stay shaft 106 extends from side to side of the feeder, being supported by the main brackets. Mounted on this stay shaft by means of their hub portions 107 are a plurality of forwarder'brackets 108 which are suitably spaced'a'cross the machine. Projecting laterally from said bracketsv are alined bosses 109 within which is reciprocally mounted a Interposed between the rod 110 and the bracket 108 is a bar-111 which is rigidly secured to the rod 110 by means of a set screw 112 which is threaded in the wall of a boss 113 integral with the bar 111. Said bar 111 slidably engages'the surface of bracket'108. d

On its rearwardly presented end, the bar 111 is provided with a boss 211, within which is vertically movable, the threaded shank 212 of a pile governor foot 213. Said shank 212 is provided with an adjustment nut 214 above the boss 211, and a clamping nut 215 below said boss. Byan inspection of Fig. 11, it will be understood that the angular throw of lever arm 75 toward the right, will be limited by the governor foot 213 in its extreme lowered position. The bar 111 is also provided with a pair of coaxially arranged bearing lugs 114 which project beyond the opposite face of the bracket 108 and serve to reciprocably mount a rod 115. Secured to the rod 115 is a socket 116 Within which is reciprocally mounted the suction tube 117 provided at its bottom end with a sheet holding sucker 118. Interposed between the sucker head and the socket 116 is a spring 119 which tends to hold the sucker in its lowermost position.

Keyed to the rod 115 by means of aset screw 120, is the hood 121 of a cam lever or bracket 122 provided with a right-angled cam slot 123. The cam slot 123 adapts thelever or bracket 122 to slide on a stud 124 which is threaded into the bracket 108 and after the rod 115 is recipro'cated endwise, this cam groove 123 constrains the sucker 118 to alternate rising and falling movements and cam lever or bracket 122, the other end of.

said connecting rod being .pivotally connected at-129 to a crank arm 130 which is keyed to the rock shaft 76. Also keyed to the rock shaft 76 is a crank arm 131 to which is pivotallyfconnected at 132 the upper end of a cam lever 133, said cam lever being guided in its movements by spaced arms 134 which slidably engage the cam at one side of the machine.

shaft 49. Keyed to the cam shaft 49 is a cam 135, said cam being preferably disposed A cam roller 136 is journaled on the stud 137 which pro jects laterally from the cam lever 133.

The movements of rock shaft 76 under the action of cam 135, are counteracted by an arm 205 which is keyed to the rock shaft and pivotally connected at 206 to the .upper end of a spring rod 207. The spring rod 207 is provided with a collar 208 and reciprocates in a post 209 which projects from the side frame of the machine. Interposed between collar 208 and post 209 is a spring 210 which serves to hold the cam roller 136 in running contact on the cam 135. It will be apparent fromthis description that as the cam 135 revolves, cam roller 136 imparts a thrust movement to the connecting rod 137 which is converted into a backward and forward movement between which takes place the lowering and rising of the sucker. During these movements of the sucker imparted in the manner indicated, a desirable degree of suction is created in the suction tube 117 by means of suitable air pumping means to be hereinafter described, the suction' being controlled by means of a valve which co6peratively controlsthe suction of the sheet separators. Extending upwardly from the suction tubes 117 is a flexible hose or tube 138 which communicates at its upper end with a port 139 which is adapted to be connected and disconnected with a port 140by means of a slide valve chamber 141 formed in a slide valve 142. The valve 142 is pivotally connected at 143 to one end of the connecting rod 144, the other end of said connecting rod being pivotally connected at 145 to a lever am 146 which oscillates on the shaft 147, a cam arm 148 which connects acam roller 149 being adapted to impart the necessary movements to said valve by .means of a cam 1-50' keyed to the cam shaft 49. In order to make the "cam roller 149 followthe cam 150, a spring rod 151 is pivotally connected at 152'to the lever arm 146 and carries thereon a collar 153 between which and the eye bolt 154 is disposed a compression spring 155 on the spring rod 151. The port 140 is in open communication with a suction pipe 156 which, as shown in Fig. 1, is connected with a suction pump 157 havinga discharge outlet 158. Said suction pump 157 isdriven by means of a shaft 159 upon which is keyed the gear 160 'which is driven through an idler 161 b means of a gear 162 on the armature sha t of the motor 163. Meshing with the gear 160 is another gear164 carried by the spindle of an air blast pump 165 to which is connected an air blast pipe 166 which extends across the back of the feeder. Air blast for the separators is secured by means of air blast tubes 167. The necessary suction for the separators is secured by means of suction tubes 168 which connect thesepa rators' respectively to opposite ends of the suction pipes 169 which lead from a port 170 in the valve hereinbefore referred to. In the top plate 171 of the valve are provided ports 172 and 173 which are adapted at certain times to open up the exhaust ports 174 and 175 in the slide valve 142. Thus, according to Figs. 11 and 12, the slide valve 142 is in position to exhaust all of the suckers 118, since the port 139 opens into the port 140 leading to the-suction pipe 156 by way of the valve chamber 141 at the same time the port 175 in the slide valve 142 has come into coaxial alinement with the port 173 and port 170 which thus opens up the suction pipe leading to the separators and permits an inflow of air which releases the sheet from the separators. Referring now to Figs. 1 and 14, it will be seen that the air blast pipe 166 which supplies the air under pressure to the blast nozzles of the separators, extends through a standard 176 and is provided with a forwardly deflected opening 177 which is normally closed by a closure 178 carried by a lever arm 179 which is which has its opposite ends connected at 182 and 183 to lever 179 and posts 176 respectively, serves to hold the closure 178 against the opening 177 when the pressure of said spring is not overcome by a cam movement which consists of a connecting rod 184 pivotally connected at 185 to the lever 17 9 and at 186 to one arm 187 of a cam lever which is journaled on a pin or stud 188 and is provided with a cam arm 191 keyed to the cam shaft 49.- I

Referring nowto Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the armature gear 162 of the motor 163 meshes with the larger gear 192 of a compound .gear of which the smaller 193 meshes with a gear 194 on a shaft 195. Keyed to the shaft 195 is a gear 196 which meshes with an idler 197. The operation of my improved sheet feeding machine will now be readily understood and, briefly described, is as follows:

The Parts being in the position shown in Fig. 2, according-to which the pile on the upper table has become exhausted,- it now becomes necessary in putting the second pile into action, to raise the, lower .set of bars 9 until the I-beams 13 lift the paper table 15 from the rollers 16. For this purpose,

the motor 163 is preferably used, since it.

operates more rapidly than the regular table-elevating mechanism to bring the parts into startin position. Depending upon which direction the'chains 6- 6 are to be pivoted on a stud 180. A spring 181 32 or gear 33 is brought into mesh with the gear 197. If it is necessary to bring the gear 32 into mesh for driving in one direction, the planetary system is revolved until the bolt 29 is permitted to enter the socket 25. In this event the pitch circle of gear 32 is brought into tangency with that of gear 197. In this connection, it is to be noted that the pitch diameter of gear 32 is just sufficient to fill the gap between the pitch circles of gears 23 and 197, said gear 32 being suitably disposed on the disk 21 for this purpose. Furthermore, the intermeshing gears 32 and 33 protrude the same distance from the axis of revolution of the disk-24 so that when the gear 33 is to be put into mesh with gear 197 for driving in the opposite direction, the planetary system is revolved until the socket'26 is opposite the bolt 29. The bolt 29 having been forced home, gear 197 transmits power through gears 33, 32 and 23, to shaft 21 the I-beams 13 being rapidly raised until they lift the paper table 15 from the roller 16 after whichthe bolt 29 is withdrawn and the planetary system moved to the position shown in Fig.

' 3, in which the table-lifting mechanism is operated automatically depending on the condition of the pile with reference to the forwarding suckers. The motor 163 being now disconnected from the table elevating mechanism, its function becomes the operation of the air blast and air suction. Whenever it becomes necessary to reverse the step by step'feed from that provided in the arrangement of parts shown in Fig. 3, a counterclockwise revolution of the disk 24 brings the gear 32 into mesh with gear 34 which is rotated step by step by ratchet 36 depending on the height of the paper pile. It will appear from Figs. 11 and 12 that when the slide valve 142 has been moved toward the right,.the air suckers 118 of the said forwarding mechanism will be rendered inactive since the port 139 is open to the outer air through port 172 in the cover plate of the valve. On the other hand, the suction port 170 will be in open communication with the suction pipe 156 through the valve chamber 141 and hence the separators will be provided with the necessary suction for lifting the rear corners of the sheet while at the same time air blast relief valve 178 being closed, the necessary air blanket is produced between the upper sheets. Immediately thereafter the'valve 142 moves 'to the left to break the vacuum in the separators and to produce a vacuum in the sheetforwarding suction tubes 117. At the same time, the air blast for the separators is broken by opening valve 178. Prior to this,

however, the cam 135 is operated to move the cam or lever 122 rearwardly, which results-in dro ping the suckers 118 onto the top sheet 0 the pile at the same time as suction is created to adapt them-to secure the forward edge of the top sheet just before the cam 135 operates to elevate the suckers and to move them forwardly into the' position shown in Fig. 11. The slide valve 142 now moves to the right again to break the suction in the tubes 117 and to prepare the separators for operating fromthe next sheet. It will be seen therefore that the sheet-separating and sheet-forwarding suckers are controlled by one and the samevalve and made to cooperate perfectly 1n controlling the movement of the sheet on of sheet feeding means including a fixed bracket, a substantially right-angled cam slidably engaging a portion rigid with said bracket, a sheet-engaging device moved by said cam and means for operating said cam on said bracket.

2. In a machine of the character described, a fixed bracket or support provided with a guideway, a slide reciprocable in said guideway, a guide arranged transversely to said slide and partaking of the movements thereof, andsheet-engaging means reciprocably mounted in the last-mentioned guide.

- 3. In a machine of the character described, a fixed bracket-or support, a slide vertically reciprocable thereon, a guide bar operated by said slide, a rod reciprocable in said guide,- a sheet engaging device mounted on said rod, and means for reciprocating said rod and moving said slide vertically.

4. In a machine of the character described, a fixed bracket or support, a'slide vertically reciprocable thereon, a guide bar operated by said slide, a rod reciprocable in said guide, a sheet engaging device mounted on said rod, and means for reciprocating said rod and-moving said slide vertically, said means including a right-angled cam secured device, sheet forwarding mechanism provided with a suction device, a suction pipe, and an automatically operated valve common to both suction devices for connecting said suction pipe with said suction devices of the separating and forwarding mechanisms successively.

- devices is being connected up with said suc- 7 tion pipe.

7. In a machine of the character described, a valve housing provided with a main suction port and other suction ports adapted to be successively brought into open communication with said main suction port, manifold pipes leading from each of said other suction ports, sheet separating mechanism comprising suction devices connected to one of said manifolds, sheet forwarding mechanism comprising suction devices connected to the other of said manifolds, and a valve for bringing said main port into communication with said other suction ports successively.

8. In a machine of the character described, a valve housing provided with a main suction port and other suction ports adapted to be successivel brought into open communication with said main suction port, manifold pipes leading from each of said other suction ports, sheet separating mechanism comprising suction devices connected to one of said manifolds, sheet forwarding mechamsm comprlsmg suction devices connected to the other of said manifolds, and avalve for brin 'ng said main port into communication with said other suction ports successively, said valve housing being provided with ports coaxially alined with said other ports and said valve being provided with portsadapted to be brought successively into coaxial alinement with each of said other ports and the air port corresponding thereto.

9. In a machine of the character described, a main drive shaft, sheet forwarding mechanism operated by said drive shaft, a longitudinal drive shaft geared to said main drive shaft and having a universal couplin therein, laterally spaced separators adjusta le vertically relatively to each other, and a separator drive shaft connected to and supported by said separators and having power driven connections with said lon gitudinal drive shaft.

10. In a machine of the character described, a main drive shaft, sheet forwarding mechanism operated by said drive shaft, a longitudinal drive shaft geared to .said main drive shaft and having a universal coupling therein, laterally spaced separators adjustable vertically relatively to each other, and a separator drive shaft connected to and supported by said separators and having power driven connections with said longitudinal drive shaft,the connections between said separator drive shaft and each of said separators including a gear splined on said separator drive shaft and journaled in a bearing which, is supported by said separator.

11. In a machine of the character described, a main drive shaft, sheet forwarding mechanism operated by said drive shaft, a longitudinal drive shaft geared to said main drive shaft and having a universal coupling therein, laterally spaced separators adjustable vertically relatively toeach other, and a separator drive shaft connected to and supported by said separators and having power driven connections with said longitudinal drive shaft, the connections between said separator drive shaft and each of said separators including a gear splined on said separator drive shaft and journaled in a bearing which is supported by said separator, ,said bearing being oscillatably mounted on said separator.

12. In a machine of the character described, a separator, a bearing oscillatably supported b said separator, a gear journaled in sai bearing, a power shaft splined to said gear, and a gear for operating said separator in mesh with the first-mentioned gear.

- 13. In a sheet feeding machine, laterally spaced separators, means for supporting said separators and adjusting thenrvertically with respect to each other, each of said said separators and adjusting them verti cally with respect to each other, each of said separators having a shaft provided with a gear, a bearing oscillatably mounted on each ofsaid separators, a gear journaled in each of said bearings and meshing with the separator gear, and a shaft having splined connections with the gears journaled in said bearings, each of said bearings being separable into parts.

15. In a sheet feeding machine, laterally spaced separators, means for supporting said separators and adjusting them vertically with respect to each other, each of said separators having a shaft provided with a gear, a bearing oscillatably mounted on each of said separators, a gear journaled in each of said bearings and meshing with the separator gear, and a shaft having splined co-nnections with the gears journaled in said bearings, and a power shaft arranged transversely to the separator drive shaft intermediately of said separators, the last-mew tioned shaft being provided with geared connections which permit an angular adjustment of one of said shafts in a plane transverse to the other of said shafts.

16. In a machine of the character described, a rock' shaft, .a sheet engaging sucker reciprocated by said rock shaft,

1 means for raising and lowering said sucker,

and a pile gaging foot partaking of the rising and falling movements of said sucker for limiting the movements of said rock shaft.

17 In a machine of the character described, a rock shaft, a support, a bar movable upwardly and downwardly on said supmeans for connecting said rod to said rock shaft.

18. In a machine of the character described, a rock shaft, a support, a bar movable upwardly and downwardly on said support, a rod reciprocably mounted on said bar, a sheet gripper carried by said rod, and means for connecting said rod to said rock shaft, said connecting means including a bracket arm suspended from said rod and provided with a cam slot, a stud carried by said support and slidably engaging the walls of said cam slot, and means for connecting said bracket arm to said rock shaft.

CARL E. GHRISTOPHEL. 

